The Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, on Wednesday, said the agency was being audited by the World Health Organisation to prepare Nigeria for local production of COVID-19 vaccines.
Adeyeye made this known in Abuja at the maiden interaction with stakeholders organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Safety Standards and Regulations in.
The DG said NAFDAC was supervising 165 pharmaceutical firms, over 45,000 food manufacturing companies and over 5,000 Micro, Small and Medium-scale Enterprises in the food and drug industries.
Adeyeye, who was represented by the Director of Planning, Research and Statistics, NAFDAC, Fori Tatama, said the agency takes the issues of health, safety and environment seriously.
Speaking on why the DG could not come in person, Tatama said, “She is currently discussing with the WHO, because the WHO is carrying out an audit of NAFDAC, which will enable the country to start manufacturing vaccines. The programme started on Monday and will last till Friday.”
Also at the session, the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Productivity called for quick passage of the Operational Safety and Health Bill to ensure proper regulation of safety in work places across the country.
The ministry’s Director of Occupational Safety and Health, Mrs Lauretta Adogu, said, “The bill will seek to make comprehensive provision for operational health and safety in work and other matters. It will also seek to establish a national council for occupational safety and health.
“It addresses several important issues and widens the scope of legislation as the new Act will apply to all workplaces, because we enforce operational safety and health in Nigeria.”
The Department of Petroleum Resources said most accidents in gas stations and petrol filling stations happen where such stations were not licensed by it.
The Chairman of the committee, Ibrahim Hamza, had earlier said the entrenchment of effective safety and health systems required collective commitment and consultation among all stakeholders.
